Becoming a pastry chef is no easy task but if you love making delectable desserts and toiling in front of the oven and decorating cakes is your idea of fun then you should pack your bags and head off to culinary school.
Before you do that however, you should make sure that being a food professional is what you really want to do. After all, your happiness in what you do is what really matters. Once you have decided, you can start by reading books or articles on what pastry chefs do – these materials should tell you a thing or two on how to become a pastry chef.
What is a Pastry Chef?
A patissier or a pastry chef is a type of station chef and a member of the brigade de cuisine. They stay in the pastry department and have assistants in their station. Pastry chefs hold degrees in making pastries and are very skilled in making baked goods and desserts. The more well known pastry chefs come from the top culinary schools in Europe and are masters in their craft. After graduating from cooking school, they oversee restaurant or hotel kitchens and make sure that the bakers are doing the right thing in preparing the desserts. Established pastry chefs usually have a managerial role in the kitchen and they have apprentices or junior chefs who mold, mix and decorate pastries. Some however are more hands on and usually make all the preparations themselves with little help from their assistants. Pastry chefs can also be found in bistros, big hotels, restaurants and cafes.
The daily operation of a pastry chef requires him or her to do research on new pastry ideas, test out new recipes and develop new desserts. Most of the time pastry chefs are required to do all the preparations for different kinds of desserts in advance to make sure that every pastry is perfect.
A big part of being a great pastry chef is ensuring quality control. Not only do pastries need to look amazing but they need to taste amazing too – and each creation must look and taste the same each time it is made. Making sure that the desert table is always displaying the best that you have to offer is also part of the quality control in most restaurants.
Being a pastry chef is rewarding career and top chefs are well paid for their skills.
